Combined street-cleaning and snow and refuse incinerating and melting machine



T. C. OLAN COMBINED. STREET CLEANING AND SNOW AND REFUSE INCINBRATING AND MELTING MACHINE Filed March 18. 1918 3 Sheets-Sheet. 1

Emme- W 392% 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 llVl/E/VTUR W T. C. DOLAN COMBINED STREET CLEANING AND SNOW AND REFUSE INCINERATING AND MELTING MACHINE Filed March 18. 1918 I W L WITNESSES.

T. C. DOLAN MELTING MACHINE Filed March 18. 1918 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 iIiIII/IILI/lill!!!rt!'IfIIIIIlllliIIL/lilll June 10 E924,

COMBINED STREET CLEANING AND SNOW AND REFUSE INCINERATING AND W/ T/VESSES Patented June 10, 1924.

UETED STATES 1,497,432; PATENT FFICE.

THOMAS C. DOL-AN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.-

COMBINED STREET-CLEANING AND SNOW AND REFUSE INCINERATING A ND MELTING I MACHINE.

Application filed March 18, 1918. Serial No. 223,031.

To a]! whom. it may concerns lie it known that I, 'lnoMAs C. I)LAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of (look and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Street- Cleaning and Snow and Refuse Incinerating and Melting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

lhe invention relates to machines of a character adapted to sweep the streets especially paved streets of cities and towns and to collect said sweepings, whether refuse or loose snow and ice, and it is the primary object of the invention to provide in machines of this character an improved mechanism by which any materials gathered by the machine may be heat treated so that any particles of snow and ice may be melted, whereby the resulting liquids may be discharged from the machine at suitable intervals into sewers and catch basins and the like provided for conveying water from the streets, thus saving the enormous cost. of collecting and transporting snow' and ice from city streets by utilizing the existing water conveying systems.

It is a further object of the invention to so arrange the snow and ice melting mechanism of the machine that the machine mav without change be utilized in collecting and incinerating any combustible refuse on the streets thus reducing. the same to ashes, and at the same time rendering this refuse sanitary and free ofallactive bacteria or filth commonly found in street sweepings and liable to be harmful to the health of the community. a

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved machine of the described character adapted to gather and melt loose snow found upon city streets even in larger quantities or accumulations than ordinarily deposited during a snow as when the same is found in drifts or accumulated piles due to the action of avinds or when same has been collected in piles on the streets for whatever reasons.

It is a well known fact that the large cities especially in the northern portions of the United States spend annually hundreds of thousands of dollars each season in having the snow that falls on the streets collected and transported to suitable snow dumping grounds, removed from the more congested sections of the city, whereas my improved machine as hereinafter described is capable not only of collecting such snow and other materials but is also capable of immediately converting the same into water by which the ordinary means employed for conveying water and sewage from the streets is also available to remove such melted snow and ice.

Other objects of the invention will appear from the following description which is directed to the preferred embodiment of the invention which is also shown in its most approved form in the accompanying drawings forming a part of my specification.

In the said drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the complete machine motor driven, with parts in section and parts broken away to disclose details of construction.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the machine with the front portion broken away and other parts of the top cover omitted to disclose details of construction. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Fig. 4 is a broken detail View of the power transmission mechanism between the motor and the various operative parts of the machine including the driving gear transmission.

In constructing my machine in accordance to the principles of the invention it is desirable although not necessary that the same be applied to a motor driven vehicle or truck. In the views of the machine, Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive, the main frame is constructed similar to the main frame of an ordinary motor truck and is designated generally by the reference character 10. In all of the views except inFig. 4 the front of the machine including the motor is omitted. In Fig. 4 a broken portion of the motor casing is designated by the reference character 11. In the form of motor and driving mechanism I prefer to employ, 12 is a combined fly wheel and clutch member fixed 'to the motor shaft and being provided \with peripheral gear teeth as designated by the reference character 13, and being adapted to engage a Nil spur gear 14 on the shaft 15 designed to 0perate the sweeper and conveying mechanism including the elevating devices. The shaft" 15 is journalled to rotate in suitable bearings on. a frame 16 secured to the motor frame or as in this case to the transmission gear box.

It should be noted that the motor vehicle shown in the drawings is power driven through the motor by reason of the fact that a clutch member designated by the reference character 20 although slidably mounted on the usual driving shaft is rotatably fixed therewith under control of a shlpper lever 20 so that when the clutch part 20 engages the fly wheel 12, the movement of the motor will be imparted to the usual gearing in the,

transmission casing 21. The ordinary gear shifting mechanism for the transi'mssion casing 1t should be understood, will be cmployed,but the same 18 not shown in the drawings as it formsno part of the present invention and it willbe suflicient to note that the operator by the usual gear shifting device for controlling the gearing in the casing 21 will impart motion to the main driving shaft 22 (see Fig. 1) and thence to the driving wheels of the machine which are on the rear axle and designated by the reference characters 23, 24 in Figs; 2 and 3, in any desired or selected speed in the fo rward direction, or may drive the machine in a reverse direction. The present invention comprising as it does mechanism for swee ing and elevating snow and refuse from the streets comprises certaln collections or groups of mechanism that should be rotated only in one direction. For that reason it is desirable that the power for driving the sweeping and elevating mechanisms of the machine be taken from the motor drlven mechanism prior to the time that it passes through the speed changing gears in the transmission box or casing. It is also sometimes desirable that the sweeping and elevating mechanism be operated when the driving mechanism of the trunk 1s inoperative. For these reasons I prefer to take the power for operating my sweeping and elevating mechanism from the motor shaft between the motor and the clutch so that the driving of the sweeping andelevating mechanism of the machine will be unaffected by reason of changes in either clutch or trans mission mechanisms.

It is also sometimes desirable to operate the motor truck while carrying the mechanism in an inoperative condition comprising my invention for collecting and melting or incinerating foreign materials found upon the streets such as snow and refuse, and for this reason I employ a gear shifting mechanism adapted to disconnectthe sweeping and elevating mechanism of the machine from the constantly operated motor mechanism including the supplementary driving shaft 15. This is the mechanism shown in detail in Fig. 4 in which the shaft 15 is divided and the rearwardly extending portion mamas of the same, designated by the reference character 26, is journalled in hearings in the bracket 16 and extended thence rearwardly to a bearing bracket 27, whole it is provided with a bevel gear 28 meshing with bevel gca r 29 on the right angular shaft 30, which latter is join-milled in bracket 31 at its outer extremities, where it is provided with a bevel gear 32 meshing with a similar bevel gear 233 on the longitudinal shaft 34 extending rcarwardly to drive the sweeping and elevating mechanism of the machine. The shaft 26 is adapted to be driven with shaft 15 through suitable clutch mechanism controlled by the clutch shipper lever 15 positioned adjacent the drivers seat and controlling the movable clutch member 15 splined on shaft 26 and adapted to en age or disengage the clutch member 15 xed to shaft 15.

The rear portion of the truck frame comprises preferably a metallic compartment containing suitable mechanism for treating materials to be gathered therein by the machine with heat for incineration. To the roar of this compartment is the collecting mechanism designed to collect or sweep 11 snow and loose refuse as dust and the like from the streets and present the same to the incinerating or melting devices contained in the said compartment. The metallic walls of the incin'eratin g and water collecting compartments of the machine are designated generally by the reference character 30, Figs. 1, 2 and 3. These comprise a bottom portion, side, top, and end walls. The front end wall rises vertically as shown in Fig. 1 near the roar of the drivers seat, the latter being designated by the reference character 32. The rear wall of the compartment is at the rear of the truck frame 10 and is preferably reduced in height to allow the grate in the form of an endless belt device to be mounted approximately over the rear end member 30* and to project forwardly and longitudinally of the compartment to a point removed only a short distance from the front of the compartment. This endless belt mechanism or grate designated by the re erence character 33 is intended to receive any snow or any other materials such as refuse and street sweepings that may he collected by the machine and to carry the same on the upper run thereof, while passing in proximity to certain heat applying burners for the purpose of iucinerating any refuse or melting any snow or ice that may be contained in suc materials gathered from the streets. Near the front end of the inciucrating or melting compartment there is a. compartment for the collection of solid materials, divided from the remainder of the compartment by a perforatcd lateral partition designated by the reference character 35 (Fig. 1). The'endless belt mechanism or grate 33 is carried upon shafts 36, 37 the former of which is almost immediately over the upper side of the perforated partition 35, and the latter being journalled almost immediately above therear partition Any solid materials that will not be either melted or incineramd while passing along the upper run of the endless belt or grate 33 will be discharged into this space or receptacle forward of the perforated partition 35 and same may be frequently removed at any desired intervals by the operator of the machine who may gain access thereto t rough an opening designated by the refere 108 character 36, Fig.

' 1, closed by door 37, preferably hinged to the wall 30 of the compartment as indicated by the reference character 38. The door 37 may be normally held in closed position by a suitable latch 39 (Fig. 2). Any suitable means for applying heat, and flame to the materials which may be collected by the machine either to be incinerated or melted, may be employed in the incinerating or melting chamber and still fall within the purview of my invention. I prefer however, to employ heat generated from the hydro-carbons such as gas, gasoline or kerosene which furnishes a convenient fuel in a concentrated form. I show for example. on the rear of the seat 32 of Fig. 1 a fuel supply tank 40 with a pipe 41 leading therefrom to a plurality of burners all located within the incinerating or melting compartment surrounded by walls 30 and beneath the top plate thereof as shown in Fig. 1. The burners referred to consist of a plurality of laterally arrangedpipes designated by the reference character 42, Fig. 1 and Fig. 3. The laterally extending parallel pipes 42 are provided with a plurality of vents as designated by the reference character 43, Fig. 3 so that when the fuel isdischarged through these vents it will burn" and give off a downwardly projecting flame in the manner of the ordinary oil or gas burner. To expedite the action of the burning of the liquid fuel it may be fed to the burners located in the'pipes 43 under pressure. No means for producing compression within the fuel tank or manifolds leading to the burners is shown for the reason that the same forms no part of the present invention.

In the construction of the burners within the melting and incinerating compartment ll. prefer to divide the fuel supply by passing a portion of it from the pipe 41 i into the branch pipe 43 under the control of a valve 44. The pipe 41 is also under the ,control of a suitable valve 45, which is loalternate burner pipes within the incineratmg and melting chamber. When the valve 45 is thus opened it is also possible to supply fuel to the remaining alternate burner pipes 42 of the series by openingthe valve 44 controlling the branch supply pipe 43. In this manner with both valves 44 and 45 open the fuel will be fed synchronously to all of the burners.

Should a condition develop requiring a smaller number of burners. than the full number the operator may cut oil the alternate burners at will by the valve 44.' Furthermore the supply of fuel at any time may be regulated to all of the burners by tl e adjustment of valve 45 thus controlling the beat in the described melting and incinerating compartment before referred'to. I will now describe the collecting and elevating mechanism for collecting snow and ice and other materials such as refuse and sweepings from the streets.

Attached to the rear end of the frame 10 of the machine and either secured to or formed integrally with theside walls 30 of the compartment formed thereby is a frame which is generally designated by the reference character 50, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. This frame extends downwardly and rearwardly from the incinerating and melting chamber 30 to a point adjacent to the normal ground line of the machine where it supports a rotating collector brush or sweeping device cylindrical in form and having suitable brushes or bristles radiating from its outer periphery in the usual manner of street sweeping devices. The shaft of this brush is designated in Figs. 1 and 2 by the reference character 55, and the peripheral or sweeping portions thereof are designated by the reference character 56. The shaft 55 carrying the brush is journalled in suitable bearings 57, 58 at each side of the frame 50, and at one end the brush shaft carries a suitable driving gear as the bevel gear 59 meshing with the co-operating bevel gear 60 on the shaft 61 extending forwardly and upwardly and supported on the sweeper frame in suitable spaced bearing brackets 62, 63. At the upper and forward extremities the shaft 61 is provided with the bevel gear 64 meshing with co-operating bevel gear 65 on one end of a rotating shaft 66 carrying a roller for operating the lower elevator 67, the latter being in the form of an endless belt conveyor and extending to the rearward and lower end of the elevator frame 50 in close.proximity to the ground or street level where it co-operates with the power operated rotating brush 56. Atthis rearward and lower end the endless belt conveyor (37 is supported by a suitable roller designated by the reference character (38, Fig. 1. In order to assist the. endless belt elevator 67 in carrying materials from the cylindrical power operated collector brush 56 1 preferably provide an auxiliary endless belt conveyor spaced above the upper run of the conveyor GT. The shaft (it) which supports this supplementary endless belt conveyor at its lower end is preferably located some distance higher than the corresponding shaft 68 of the lower conveyor thus allowing a considerable amount of space on the top of the lower conveyor for the accumulation of material by the rotating brush 56. The supplementary endless belt 70 is further supported and operated by a suit-- able roller on shaft 71 which latter is rotatably journalled in the elevator frame 50 and adapted to be positively driven from the shaft (36 through the spur gears 72 and 73. Fig. 2.

By this construction it will be seen that. any snow or material swept up by the collector brush 56 will engage (ST and be carried thence between the upper and lower runs of the elevators 67, 70 respectively. and will be discharged thence upon the upper run of the endless belt or grate 33 within the incinerating chamber. This will bring the material to the proximity of the burners where it will be acted upon by the jets of flame coming from the burners. If the material being-collected be snow it will be melted and the water therefrom will drop downwardly through the endless belt grate. 33 into the bottom of the compartment surrounded by walls 30 30 and any solid materials such as ice or metallic particles or stones will be carried the length of the grate and deposited within the compartment forwardly of the perforated partition 35, the

partition 35 obviously is perforated to permit any water that is discharged from snow melted at the forward end of the grate to pass therethrough. especially after such material is carried to a position where it is about to be discharged from the grate.

The method of operation of the machine will be apparent from the foregoing description but it will be stated that one of the most advantageous features of the machine as well as most economical uses to which it. is adapted is in the collection of snow from the city streets and the reduction of the same to liquid form so that it may be quickly and easily handled by the ordinary sewer systems utilized to convey water from the streets. In using the machine in the collection and-melting of snow the burner mechanism being in operation the machine will be driven in the forward direction and with the controller brush 56 engaging the surface of the street in the rear of the machine any ordinary accumulations of snow will be swept forward and thrown upon the upper run of the lower elevator 67 which is operating in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1 with the upper run moving forwardly and upwardly towards the incinerating or melting chamber. With the mechanism described for operating the sweeping, elevating and incinerating mechanism of the machine it will be seen that the rotating sweeper will operate only in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1, which will have the effect of causing any material such as snow swept up by the device to be thrown upon the elevator 67, and to be subsequently discharged therefrom upon the incinerat-ing conveyor or grate 33 in proximity to the flame of the burners.

After the snow or particles of snow and ice fall upon the grate 33 they will be carried by the same towards the forward end of the compartment always being played upon by the jets of flame from .the burners 4-2. It is desirable that there be a draft through the incinerating device in the direction indicated bythe'arrows in Fig. 1. that is from the rear towards the front of the machine since the material being treated travels in that direction and in order to accomplish this purpose and furthermore to aid in the accumulation of all dust or loose particles of snow that may be raised by the action of the sweeper mechanism as it passes over the street surface I employ a blower in the form of a centrifugal machine. the casing of which is designated by the reference character 80, Fig. 1. The details of this blower are not shown since they form no part of the invention and it will suffice to say that I prefer to drive the blower from a sprocket wheel and chain, the latter designated by the reference character 81 secured to the shaft 71, which drives the upper elevator endless belt mechanism. The centrifugal blower is preferably although not necessarily mounted upon the top of the covering of the sweeper frame 50 and has connected therewith a series of pipes having their-intake ends located adjacent the sweeping compartment just forwardly of the sweeper brush 56. There may be any number of the intake openings of the dust collector suction system such as designated by the reference characters 82 and 83 in Fig. 1. These are preferably connected to a suitable pipe 84 leading tothe casing of the centrifugal blower 80 and the latter discharging directly into the end of the incinerating and melting compartment that receives the snow or other materials from the collecting and elevating mechanism. This blower mechanism as stated is of the greatest advantage in collecting any loose particles of snow or dust which may be laden with germs from the streets and by Nil forward end of the machine.

discharging the same directly upon the flame within themelting and incinerating compartment prevents the spread of any injurious bacteria oi other harmful materials natural gas are used as the incinerating or melting fuels, even in the disposing of street sweepings the combustion is so complete that there is little if any inconvenience caused by the discharge of gases from the reference character 91.

machine. However, in order to. reduce the discharge of any noxious gases to the mmimum and to assist in introducing the draft in the desired direction heretofore referred to, I prefer to connect a suitable header as indicated by the reference character 90, with the forward extremity of the incinerating and melting compartment, the latter being connected with the interior of the compartment with an opening as indicated by the The header 90 is connected with an upwardly extending discharge pipe 92 to the upper extremity of which is attached a suitable smoke consuming device designated generally by the reference character 93, the latter being of any desired and 'standard construction for rendering the gases less obnoxious or for filtering the noxious features or elements therefrom. p

In operating the invention in the winter time when it is desired toremove snow from the streets and to melt same, the melted snow in the form of water will be accumulated in the bottom of the compartment surrounded by walls 30 and will be discharged there from at suitable intervals at suitable points on the streets'where the sewer or drainage construction is adapted to care for the water, the discharge being through the outlet compartment designated by the reference charactor 95 of Fig. 1, through the discharge spout or valve 96. At other seasons of the year my apparatus is admirably adapted to take care 0 refuse on city streets such as sweepings and the like, and to do this it will be seen that it is only necessary to drive the machine over the street and such refuse will be collected by the rotating sweeper brush 56, and discharged in the same manner as the snow upon the incinerating belt 33.- Upon the application thereto of any desired amount of flame from the incinerating burners 42 such materials will be consumed and the ashes discharged in the bottom of i the compartment or forward of the perforated plate 35 to be afterwards removed at suitable intervals. It is desirable, although not essential that the endless belt conveyor or grate 33 be constructed to carry ashes and non-liquid particles to the forward end of the compartment adjacent the discharge door-37. Other doors similar to the discharge door 37 may be provided in the lateral walls 30 wherever it may be desired to remove ashes or non-liquid materials. In order to enable the collecting brush and elevating mechanism to co-operate more perfectly in handling and elevating particles to ,be taken up bythe collector brush I, ro-

vide a pivoted diaphragm as indicate by the reference character 98, Fig. 1, the same being attached to the lower extremity of the frame 50, forwardly of the collector brush,

and being pivoted preferably co-axially wit the shaft 68 carrying the anti-friction devices for supporting the lower end of the endless belt 67. This diaphram 98 preferably drags on the surface of the street and prevents the sweeping action of the rotating sweeper from throwing dust, particles or snow and the like forwardly and underneath the lower end of the elevator, and assists in the accumulation and elevation of materials acted upon by the sweeping mechanism. I

In order to make the machine more efiicient in the handling of ice and in deep snow I provide certain auxiliary devices, which will now be described.

In Fig. 1 I show in the sectional view a rotating ice cutter indicated by the reference character 100. This is mounted upon a shaft 101 and from inspection of the view in Fig. 3 it will be seen that the shaft 101 contains a plurality of space cutters similar to the cutter 100. The shaftlOl may if desired be positively operated from a moving part of the machine so that the cutters 100 will have a more efficient action in disintegrating solid ice particles which may be found upon the streets. In the construction of these devices as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 the shaft 101 is shown journalled in ad tic order' to insure that the sweeping mechanism will not be called upon to handle more than .a predetermined depth I provide sweepers or angular devices in the form of plow shares as indicated by the reference characters 105, 106, F'i 1. These devices being angularly incline will sweep up the snow to acertain depth and discharge it frcmthe side of the machine leaving snow of a predetermined depth to be acted upon by the sweeping, elevating and melting devices of the machine.

In order that the invention might be understood the details of the embodiment preferred by me have been shown and described but it is not desired to be limited to the details for it will be apparent that persons skilled in the art may resort to various modifications of the structure shown and described herein without departing from the purpose and spirit of my invention. I claim:

said means comprising suction devices adjacent the rotatable sweeper and spaced along the conveyor and being arranged to discharge therefrom into the receptacle.

2. In combination, a street sweeper having a supporting frame, a compartment carried by the frame, heating means carried within said compartment, means for collecting and delivering snow to said compartment, plows carried by said frame and spaced from the plane of the surface over which the sweeper is passed.

3. In combination, a street sweeper having a supporting frame, a compartment carricd by the frame, incinerating means carried within saidcompartment. an endless belt carried withinsaid compartment, means for imparting movement to said belt, and means for collecting and delivering street sweepings upon said belt.

4. In a street sweeper having a supporting frame, a compartment carried by said frame, an incinerator within said compartment. means for collecting and delivering street sweepings to said incinerator, plows 'arried by said frame and spaced from the plane of the surface over which the sweeper is passed, and cutters carried by said frame and intermediate said plows.

In a street sweeper having a supporting frame, a compartment carried by said frame, an incinerator within said compartment. means for collecting and delivering street sweepings to said incinerator, plows carried by said frame and spaced from the plane of the surface over which the sweeper is passed, and cutters carried by said frame and. intermediate said plows, said cutters be ing spaced from the plane of the surface over which the sweeper is passed.

6. In a snow removing machine, means for collecting and elevating the snow, means for receiving: the snow from the collecting and elevating means. flame projectors surrounding said snow receiving means for acting directly upon the snow as the same is moved upon the snow receiving means, means'for feeding fuel to the projectors. and means for controlling the supply of fuel to said projectors.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification on this 15th dav of March A. D. 1918.

' THOMAS C. DOLAN 

